Monday, January 16, 2017

First of all - apologies to you all. I have neglected this site for far too long. I have been paying more attention to my website teaching blog and my other public, online venues.

So, a bit of catch up - Since I have last posted here I have lost my husband of 45 years. Certainly a sad thing in my life. My artwork, my family and friends and my dogs are seeing me through. And thank God for my artwork. More than ever it is giving me purpose and direction. So much so that I now have 2 studios - one is downtown Cincinnati with about 200 other artists and one at home in my newly repurposed living room. I love them both.

Ever since I started moving from my abstract work to representational ones I have been seeking a way for the two of them to get married. I have realized for a very long time that the underlying design of a good representational painting is rooted in a good abstract composition. The more purposeful push of the abstract is my journey now.

BUSHY is a step in that direction as I simplified forms of light and shadow to create a more impactful and dynamic visual effect. This painting was the result of kind of an artistic brainstorming exploring lots of small sketchy paintings of a couple of bushes. Then I combined a couple of the ideas into one painting a little bit larger than the sketches and then took it further to this large piece. Lots of work but lots of fun.